Tattered Sleeve

Tuesday, December 04, 2018

She will not reach 12, apparently, before life on this planet is doomed to be inhabitable for humanity.

I take that very seriously. As soon as I became a father, that kind of thing started to matter - vibrantly; excruciatingly. Until then, it served as ...what? An excuse for nihilism? Bottoms up!

With my wife, I share a four-cylinder, gas-guzzling SUV, but at least we live in a highly energy-efficient condo in Montreal, heated (and powered) exclusively from renewable hydro-electric power, thanks to Robert Bourassa and other prescient Quebec politicians. We use public transit as much as possible, walk, or use shared services to economize, and understand that our gas costs more if we fill up on the island of Montreal, so we only take the car when we really have to.

And I expect this will be the last internal combustion vehicle we own - and appropriately so. Energy usage will not decline, but here in Quebec, I feel that we really understand that reality as a fundamental concept, alongside the practicality of maximizing our facility to harness whatever renewable energy resources we can access.

I have listened to the voices telling us the oil in Alberta and Saskatchewan will replace higher carbon-footprint coal used in China currently (to manufacture products we buy to assuage our Dollar-store need to consume, consume, consume extra plastics to make our lives more fulfilling - and yes, that rabbit-hole I have plunged myself into on many occasions myself). I call bullshit on that "need" to get the tarsands product to tidewater. Justin Trudeau is nominally championing that in order to (lamely) show he is not like his dad; as if he could somehow square that policy with being on the right side - i.e.: the non-suicidal side.

What to do?

I like JT because he espouses ideals that are high-mindedly progressive towards correction of bias and prejudice generally. But for all our sakes, this is the time to realise there is a bigger, more pressing crisis that requires his leadership. Time to stop playing nice and put his clout to the one issue that merits war-like attention: arresting climate change.

After all, what planet does he presume his kids and mine might inhabit?

“More and more people are starting to believe that only strong-handed authority, anti-European and anti-liberal in spirit, with a tendency towards overt authoritarianism, is capable of stopping the wave of illegal migration.”

“If people believe them, that only they can offer an effective solution to the migration crisis, they will also believe anything else they say. The stakes are very high. And time is short.”

Time for all of us to stop ignoring the painful truth. If you're not with Trump, you're not only against Trump,...

Monday, June 18, 2018

I enjoyed another fantastic Father's Day in the company of my children, but all the while I fought back tears whenever I heard more of the sordid tales of asylum seekers' treatment at the hands of the US Department of Homeland Security. It's full-on psychological torture to the parents and to the kids to whisk them away from the only thread of security they know: one another.

So when a great humanitarian like Lloyd Axworthy has had enough of this to speak out forcefully, I believe all Canadians must listen.

Canada and the United States added a new
dimension in 2004 by agreeing to regard each other as, in effect, safe
havens. Each barred asylum-seekers arriving from the other at official
points of entry, reasoning that no credible claim of persecution could
be made in either.

But things have
changed. Donald Trump’s administration’s harsh approach to migrants has
created fear and uncertainty among asylum-seekers in the United States.
Sadly, the United States no longer offers them a safe haven. Beyond
demonizing migrants, Mr. Trump’s appointees have adopted inhumane
practices.

Asylum-seekers are being
detained at astonishing rates in the United States, often in deplorable
conditions. Despite having no criminal record, many are jailed while
their applications for asylum are pending, mostly in private prisons.
Human Rights First reports that three-quarters of asylum-seekers in U.S.
immigration proceedings are detained at some point, compared to 16 per
cent of refugee claimants in Canada. Recent reports about the treatment
of migrant children, in particular, demonstrate just how unsafe the U.S.
immigration system has become: U.S. officials recently admitted that
they “lost track” of nearly 20 per cent of the children formerly in the
custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Despite
this fiasco, Attorney-General Jeff Sessions recently announced a policy
of separating asylum-seekers from their children, some as young as
toddlers. The United Nations calls this an “arbitrary and unlawful
interference in family life, and a serious violation of the rights of
the child.”

Consider Ms. L, an
asylum-seeker who fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo with her
seven-year-old daughter. After they were detained upon arrival in the
United States, Ms. L’s daughter was taken from her and sent to a
facility more than 2,000 miles away. They were jailed across the country
from each other for four months. Ms. L. fled brutality only to have her
daughter taken from her arms by U.S. officials: Who could blame her if,
feeling unsafe, she wanted to cross into Canada to seek protection?

And
those fleeing from the United States to Canada have good reason to fear
harm if the United States returns them to their countries of origin.
The vast majority are from war-torn states with high levels of violence
and human-rights violations. Most are at serious risk of persecution and
torture in their native lands. In fact, more than 50 per cent of the
refugee claims made by persons who enter Canada irregularly are granted.

Some
Canadians have demanded that the “safe third country” prohibition on
entry be extended to cover the entire border, not just official entry
points. But surely that is the wrong approach. It would seal off any
chance to escape for those many who are being mistreated and put at
grave risk of return by a U.S. administration with vastly different
policies from the one we dealt with in 2004.

In our view, a much better solution would
be to suspend the “safe third country” arrangement until conditions in
the United States change. The United States is no longer “safe” for
asylum seekers. And, unlike 2004, we can no longer regard our duty to
them as met simply because they are within U.S. jurisdiction. Just as
our government responded with strength to Mr. Trump’s absurd trade
sanctions, we should make crystal clear that we will not be complicit in
his mistreatment of refugees.

Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau and his government have earned Canada a
well-deserved reputation as a humane refuge for the forcibly displaced.
And Canadians, in communities across the land, have opened their hearts
and their homes to sponsor and support refugees. Let’s make sure that
our policies at the border reflect “the Canadian way” and are worthy of
the values we cherish.

Canada is a huge land. Stinkin' huge. We have ample space, resources, and no reason to turn people away who need refuge. I know we are lucky here. The people whom we welcome are my neighbours and co-workers and children's best friends. They are not at all unlike my ancestors who fled potato famine or religious intolerance or economic destitution just a handful of generations ago. We can always welcome a few more. We are one humanity, and we need to act like it.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

If Y Should Fall from Grace with ClaudeAfter being cleanly beatenIf Y’s muscled off the puckAnd his passes fail completely

Let him sit Claude, let him sit ClaudeLet Y sit up with the press where the hotdogs come with fries

This Cup was always ours Was the pride of MontrealersIt belongs to the HabsNot to any of Buttman’s fuckersIt’s coming back here boys, coming back here boys!Dump the Buttman in the south where the hockey fans run dry

Keep GCHuck at CLet those Forum ghosts direct himIf he shoots from open iceKidA or LB will deflect themInto the goal boys, into the goal boys!Win this town a twenty-fifth CupWhere the Frenchmen used to fly

If Y Should Fall from Grace with ClaudeAfter being cleanly beatenHarley’s raring to goAnd he passes pretty cleanly

Let him sit Claude, let him sit ClaudeLet Y sit up with the press where the hotdogs come with fries

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

And if the snow buries my CH neighbourhoodAnd if Che is flyingThen he'll saucer a passFrom his stick blade to PatCHesYeah, a pass, from his stick blade to PatCHesKidA has climbed out of the cellarAnd skated up the middleThe middle of the iceAnd since there's no one but the goalie aroundHe'll stay in the blue paint longAnd forget how how he used to blowAnd then his skin gets thickerFrom spraying that goalie with snow

You changed all the leadIn that rebuilt handAs the puck comes inKidA shovels it right inThen Julien tried to fix our PKCuz Price had forgotten the way toThe way to shut teams downBut somehow, TFS remembered his goalpostsAnd how to cover his five-holeAnd his catlike trapper handThen, the D remembered how to skate strongAnd how to cover the manMB changed all the smurfsGetting knocked aroundAs the trades came in

King and Thor came thundering

Purify the CHolours, beef up the 4th linePurify the CHolours, put scorers in the top two linesAnd spread the ashes of Arrogant FuckfaceOver this CHeart of mine!GOHABSGO- 30 -